Foot pedal operated hopper door



NVENTOR RD E OBERST 2 Sheets-Sheet l l RICHA R. E. OBERST FOOT PEDALOPERATED HOPPER DOOR April 3, 1951 Filed Dec.

ATTORNEYS April 3, 1951 R. E. OBERST FOOT PEDAL OPERATED HOPPER DOOR 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 11, 1948 INVENTOR RICHARD E.OBERST Illll.

ATTORNEYS Patented Apr. 3, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FOOT PEDALOPERATED HOPPER DOOR Richard E. Oberst, Milwaukee, Wis.

Application December 11, 1948, Serial No. 64,836

This invention appertains to incinerator chutes and more particularly toa novel device for opening and closing a hopper door for such chutes.

One of the primary objects of my invention is to provide an improvedfoot pedal actuated device for quickly opening a flush type hopper doorand means operating in conjunction therewith for silently closing thedoor upon release of pressure on the foot pedal.

Another salient object of my invention is to provide a novel and simplemeans for opening a normally disposed vertical hopper door by the use ofa foot pedal which can be operated by a straight downward thrust of thefoot.

A further important-object of my invention is to provide a swingingtwo-armed lever having the foot pedal connected with one end thereof andthe door operating link and an air check operatively connected to theopposite end thereof.

A still further object of my invention is to pro vide a novel door checkconnected with the operating lever of a door opening mechanism, whichwill permit the quick opening of the door and which will automaticallyclose the door at a desired rate of speed.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a door opening andclosing mechanism for incinerator chutes, which can be convenientlymounted within the wall space below the hopper door.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in thenovel construction, arrangement and formation of parts, as will behereinafter more specifically described and claimed, and illustrated inthe accompanying drawings, in which drawings:

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional View taken on the line l-l of Figure2,,looking in the direction of the arrows illustrating m novel dooropening and closing mechanism arranged within a wall below the door.

Figure .2 is a fragmentary frontelevational View of a wall havinga,flush'type hopper, door with my novel mechanism incorporated therewith;parts of the figure being shown in section and the section being takenon the line Z2 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 33 of Figure 4,looking in the direction of the arrows, illustrating the novel doorclosing mechanism.

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken at right angles to Figure 3 and onthe line @4 of Figure 3 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 5 is a detail horizontal sectional view taken on the line 5--5 ofFigure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows illustrating themounting of the foot pedal and the bracket for the door closingmechanism.

Figure 6 is an enlarged fragmentary detail 1 Claim. (Cl. 268-76)horizontal sectional view taken on the line 66 of Figure '3, looking inthe' direction of the arrows.

Referring to the drawings in detail, wherein similar referencecharacters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views,the letter D generally indicates my improved opening and closing devicefor a flush type-hopper door ID, of an incinerator chute H. The chute ll is of common construction and leads to the incinerator (not shown).This chute is in rear of a building wall l2.

Communicating with the chute or flue I I is the hopper buck or box It,which is set in the wall, in any desired way. Fastened to the outer faceof the box or buck i3 is a door frame I4 and pivotally secured to theframe [4 by means of pivot pins [5 is the door 16. This door is of theflush type and is substantially in the same vertical plane with theframe l4. Fastened to the door 46 for swinging movement therewith is thesheet metal hopper l'l. When the door It is in its closed position, thehopper I0 is in its dumping position so that any materialtherein willfall into the flue or chute ll. When the door is in its open position"the hopper is raised for receiving the material to be disposed of. Somuch of this construction is common to incinerators now generally foundin apartment houses "and like buildings.

In accordance with my invention, I build in the wall l2, below the buckor box 13, :a sheet metal enclosure box 18 for the door opening andclosing device D. This enclosure box is can extend down-ward from thebottom of the buck 13 to the floor and for the purpose of installationand re pair the enclosure box 18 can be provided at'its lower end with afront removable closure plate I9. This plate also forms a guide forcertain operating mechanism, as will be later set forth. It is to benoted that all of the parts of the enclosure box 8 with the exceptionof-the removable plate [9 are plastered -over,-so as to give the wall 12a somewhat finished appearance. The improved door opening and closingmechanism D comprises a T-shaped base plate 20 which is rigidly fastenedin any desired way to the bottom of the enclosure box 18. Rising fromthe base plate 20 is a vertically disposed standard 2] the upper end ofwhich has pivotally mounted thereto, as at 22, alever 23. The lever isrockably mounted intermediate its ends on the standard and hence thelever is provided with a front arm and a rear arm. A foot pedal 24 isprovided for operating the lever '23, and this foot pedal .includes afoot plate 25 and a substantially vertically extending arm 26. The armis arranged directly within the enclosure box and the lower end of thearm is angled and protrudes through a guide slot 21 in the front plateIQ of the en- 3 closure box. The foot plate 25 of the foot pedal isdisposed directly in front of the plate is and is carried by the angledlower end of the arm 26. Theextreme upper end of the arm 26 is connectedby means of a pin 28 with the'forward end of the front arm of the lever23. The foot pedal is movable downward and upward in a substantiallyvertically plane and a slot can be provided for the pin 23 in order thatthis movement can be had Pivotally connected, as at 29 to the rear armof the lever 24 is a connecting link or rod 30 and the upper end of thislink is pivotally connected by means of a pin 3| to ears 32 carried bythe lower wall of the hopper H). It is to be noted that these ears 32are in rear of the pivot point l of the hopper door. Obviously, bystepping down on the foot pedal plate the lever g3 will be swun on itspivot and the link or rod will be raised with a direct thrust foropening the door I6. Hence the door can be conveniently opened by thefoot, and without using the hands to open the door.

In conjunction with the door opening foot pedal, I utilize novel meansfor automatically closing the door in a silent manner and at a desiredrate of speed. This includes a cylinder 33 havin its upper end closed bya head 34, which forms a guide for a piston rod 35. The lower end of thepiston rod 35 has connected thereto any preferred type of piston 36. Thelower end of the cylinder carries a cylinder head 31 having an axialport 38 therein. The walls of the port can carry cage :fingers 39 for aball valve-4ll. Rigidly fastened to the head 31 is a substantiallyU-shaped bracket 4|. The bracket 4| includes an upper leg 42, a lowerleg 43 and a connecting wall portion 44. The upper leg is in tightengagement with the lower face of the cylinder head 31 and this leg hasformed therein a valve seat for the ball valve 49. It is to be notedthat the valve seat 45 is in direct communication with the inlet port38. Fastened securely to the connecting wall portion 44 of the bracket4| is a leaf spring 46 and the outer end of this leaf spring extendsunder the valve seat 45 and supports the ball valve 40. An adjustingscrew 41 is threaded into the lower leg 43 of the bracket 4| and byadjusting this screw the spring 46 can be raised in order to hold theball valve a desired distance off of its seat. Normally, the valve isheld by the spring just a slight distance off of its seat so that upondownward movement of the piston 36 air will escape at a slow rate ofspeed between the valve and its seat, thus cushiom'ng the downwarddescent of the piston. A relatively heavy spring 48 is coiled about thepiston'rod 35 and one end of the spring bears against the piston 36 andthe other end against the cylinder head 34. Consequently, this springnormally functions to lower the piston. Formed on the opposite sides ofthe leg 42 of the bracket 4| are depending pivot ears 48 and these earsare rockably mounted upon a pivot pin 49 carried by upstanding lugs 50formed on the base plate 20. Hence the cylinder and its parts are freeto rock on the base plate.

The extreme outer end of the rear arm of the lever 23 is pivotallyconnected by means of a pivot pin 5| to the upper end of the piston rod35. .Particular attention is invited to the a t 4 that the piston rod 35and the operating link 3| are both pivotally connected to the rear armof the lever 23 and hence the link 30 and the piston rod 35 operatesimultaneously.

Upon the opening of the door l6 by the foot pedal, the piston rod 35 ismoved upwardly and the in-rush of air through the port 38 will cause thelifting of the valve 40. Hence the door can be quickly opened and theopening movement is cushioned by the spring 48. As the door H5 isopened, the spring 48 is placed under greater tension and as soon aspressure is released from ofi of the foot pedal, the spring willfunction to lower the piston 36 and to swing the lever 23 so as to closethe door l6. Upon downward movement of the piston 36 the air will act onthe valve 43 and tend to seat this valve and as this valve is onlyslightly held off its seat by the leaf spring 44, the escape of air fromthe cylinder 33 will be at a slow rate of speed and consequently thedoor will be slowly closed and. the closing movement will be effectivelycushioned by the air. By lowering or raising the spring 46, the valve4!] can be held at different distances from its seat so that the escapeof air can be controlled at a preferred rate of speed.

From the foregoing description, it can be seen that I have provided anexceptionally simple, durable and compact mechanism for bringing aboutthe effective opening and closing of a hopper door by means of a footpedal. Attention is called to the fact that due to the compactstructure, the mechanism can be conveniently placed within a limitedspace in a wall.

Changes in details may be made without de-' parting from the spirit orthe scope of this invention, but what I claim as new is:

A spring closer and .check for an incinerator hopper door comprising abase plate, a cylinder, means pivotally connecting the lower end of thecylinder to the base plate, a piston slidably mounted in the cylinder, apiston rod connected to the piston and extending outwardly through theupper end of the cylinder, said piston rod being adapted to be connectedto the hopper door, spring means engaging said piston normally tendingto lower the piston in said cylinder, said cylinder having an inlet portin its lower end, a bracket secured to the lower end of the cylinderextending under the port having a valve seat communicating with theport, a ball valve for said seat functioning to control the flow of airfrom said cylinder below the piston, a leaf spring secured to saidbracket having an arm disposed under the seat and inlet port supportingsaid ball valve, and adjustable means for raising and lowering the armof the leaf spring.

RICHARD E. OBERST.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are ,of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

